1st night

Last night Christopher was up about every 3-4 hours. When sleeping, he is a very good sleeper and sometimes I think he sleeps too much. He has been running a low grade temp and seems very uncomfortable & unconsolable at times. He has been through alot. Yesterday, he was thrust into our arms (complete strangers). He was taken from all that was familiar to him; sights, sounds, smells, touch, everything is new and scary to him. Who are these people kissing me on the face and neck and whispering in a strange language in my ear? For all that he has been through - he seems as if he is doing well and coping through the unknown. He really is a sweet baby and coo's to himself and is still always playing with those hands. He has 2 bottom teeth, and 2 top teeth, 1 on top is just now popping through. When we got him, he had little to no muscle tone especially in his arms. We have seen a difference in just 1 day of being with him. He can hold his head up and does that well. He is not pushing up yet when we have him on his tummy. But he is improving every day.We took him to the SOS clinic today and they diagnosed him with an Upper Respiratory infection. He has started to pull at his ears some and has an occasional cough. He weighed 14 lbs and was 26 inches long. He absolutely HATES all medicines and hated the doctor touching him today and assessing him. He can go from 0-60 with one drop of Tylenol on his tongue, it really is crazy to watch the personality change so quickly. He definetely has spunk. Tomorrow, we have our first INS interview with the US govt. Dean applied for Christopher's passport today and it should be ready sometime next week. We wish that we would have brought some movies or something, it is easy to get stir crazy in the hotel. You can only take so much of the outside heat and street peddlers, so you have to stay inside. We are hoping to do some sight seeing this weekend.
Blogger won't let me post photos, so more pics tomorrow

Gotcha day!

We have waited a long time to write that word, Gotcha! I am just going to start posting pics cause I know that is what everyone wants anyway. The caretaker brought Christopher out first and it was quite unexpected when she breezed into the room holding him. He was very calm and just taking it all in. I will have to right in more detail when it is not 3 am. Tomorrow, we go to SOS clinic for eye infection, wheezing, fever, body rash that is all for now. We are so in love with him! He has a great little personality and calms very easily.

Being held by me for first time
After G&R ceremony, he was changed into clothes that we brought for him.
The long van ride home. Christopher slept most of the way home.


Chillin'

My beautiful face after spitting up nearly all my dinner on Dad!

Crib!

So wonderful to get a crib in the room today and also so odd. We have waited so long for this day and to have it upon us feels so strange. We are gathering our baby supplies & orphanage items for the trip tomorrow morning. We are leaving at 5:30 am and will probably be back some time in the afternoon. I am going to try to take lots of pics and video and hopefully the jet lag will be gone by then. Today we bought some formula & wash cloths. We walked to a big indoor mall and didn't buy a thing. It is cheaper on the streets. We have actually not done much shopping at all yet - this jet lag thing is hard. We are off to shop and have some dinner. We had breakfast in the hotel this morning, it was pretty good. But I think something made me sick from it - could it be the fried spring rolls? Everything else I had was western (eggs). We had lunch at Little Hanoi today and it was very good. They have mostly a western menu with a few VN items. Dean had a cheeseburger and I had some spagetti Pomadora. We will be going back. It was filled with tourists, which is a good sign for the tummy.

Tomorrow is Christopher DAY!!!! We are so happy!

Window with a view

This is the view outside our window. It is amazing to see all the people. I can't even differentiate which house is which, let alone how many people live in each. Today, we are off to explore.

The Hong Ngoc

We made it!

Our Stash (1/2 baby supplies & 1/2 mommy/daddy supplies)

The Bathroom (bring plenty of outlet converters)
Desk area, where I blew a fuse in the first 15 mins in the room! Whoops!

The living room



Driving by the lake on the way to the hotel

After 30 hours of travel time, we have made it to Vietnam! The best flight was the longest, we slept for 8 hours - it was pure exhaustion. We met up with the 2 other families at the airport once we were in Taipei. We are staying at the Hong Ngoc Hotel and it is lovely. I have included some pics. Today has consisted of resting, eating and JET LAG! We met with Martin, our coordinator while here and the G & R is scheduled for TUESDAY! We leave the hotel at 5:30 in the morning, which would be evening back home. We will travel to Lang Son (3 hour drive) and meet Christopher. Then we will go to the Justice department for the G & R ceremony. After the ceremony, Christopher will be legally ours in the eyes of Vietnam. They expect for us to be back sometime in the afternoon & hopefully apply for Christopher's passport the same day.We are super excited and extremely exhausted at this point. Tomorrow is all about catching up on sleep and preparing for baby, if that is possible.

Thank you to all our family that has helped us and supported us throughout this process!

Night Night!

We got the Call!!

Wednesday at 12pm, we got the get your tickets call! Not only did they tell us to get our tickets but, "can you get to VN by Sunday?" This sent us into a flurry of activities: calling 3 travel agents for quotes, simultaneously using the cell and home phone, running through the house bumping into furniture while shoving items in drawers and closets. So much for being organized at home before we left. Did I mention that we both had to work last night and I had to work a 12 hour shift (7p-7a). Plus when I got home this morning, our air was out! (please refer to My Luck post below)

So, Saturday night (Sun morn VN time) we will be in Hanoi! With a possible G&R date of Monday or Tuesday or ? ? ?. I think most of us in the adoption world know how being given a definite date for anything goes! LOL!

Please pray for us that we arrive safely and have a speedy flight. Neither of us have ever flown this far, so it will definetely be interesting. We hope to have Christopher by Tuesday at the latest! It will be a very emotional day. We are traveling with 2 other families and we are all receiving boys. I cannot wait to meet the families and get some pictures of our boys together. These precious boys have spent the first few months of their lives together. We hope to stay in touch so that when they get older they will always have a connection to their past through each other.

To Kate, Charisa and Kari- I hope your travel dates come soon and we will all meet in VN!

Off to pack!!!!!

Green Light!!!!